Windows 10 growth slows as OS X makes market share gains

The growth of Windows 10 continues, albeit slowly, the latest figures from NetMarketShare show. The statistics for April reveal that, at long last, Windows 7 is no longer installed on the majority of computers, slipping to a 48.79 percent market share. Windows 10 saw slight growth to 14.35 percent (up from 14.15 percent), and Windows XP dropped below 9.66 percent.

Usage of Windows 8.x stayed largely stable (12.11 percent compared to 12.01 percent in March), but the balance between Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 (9.16 percent down from 9.56 percent) shifted slightly, with the older version seeing slight growth (2.95 percent, up from 2.45 percent). OS X's market share increased slightly, and Linux dropped a little.

Linux is to be found on just 1.56 percent of computers (down from 1.78 percent), while Apple's operating system is installed on 9.19 percent (up from 7.78 percent). NetMarketShare reports that Windows Vista is installed on almost as many computers as Linux (1.34 percent).

Despite its dominance of the desktop, Microsoft's web browsers continue to be eclipsed by the competition. Windows 10 may be installed on more than 270 million computers, but it seems that just a small proportion of upgraders are enamored with Microsoft Edge -- it occupies just 3.85 percent of the market. The most recent version of Firefox accounts for 5.21 percent, and Chrome eats up 21.79 percent. Internet Explorer 11 remains the most popular version of Edge's predecessor, accounting for 19.87 percent.

While Microsoft will undoubtedly be happy that users are continuing to upgrade to Windows 10, the slow in growth is cause for concerns. The company will be pinning hopes on the release of Windows 10 Anniversary Update to rejuvenate interest this summer.

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